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An on-duty NYPD traffic officer was hit and killed by a truck that was cleaning the streets in New York City on Saturday afternoon.

Kalyanarat Ranasinghe, 71, was writing parking tickets when he was hit by the truck in Manhattan.

Ranasinghe was reportedly pinned beneath the Freightliner industrial vacuum truck and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Newsday.

"It was a freak accident," Anthony Trinidad, a doorman who works at a building on the street where the incident happened said. "The driver was pulling out and didn't see him. People were yelling for him to stop."

The driver of the truck remained at the scene. Soon after, his truck was hit by a bus that was trying to park in front of it. The bus driver also stayed at the scene and neither driver was injured. As of late Saturday, no charges had been filed.

“He was a very nice man. It's a big deal that we lost him,” Robert Cassar, president of the union that represents NYPD traffic agents, said. “All the agents are stunned. This doesn't happen very often.

Cassar said that Ranasinghe was issuing parking tickets at the time of the accident.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a statement, calling the accident a “horrible tragedy.”

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Ranasinghe family," Bloomberg stated.